INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION NOTES
For more information, please contact:
Mary Hulett Amblin Partners 100 Universal City Plaza Bldg 5121 Universal City, CA 91608 P: (818) 733-9769 E: [email protected]
Running Time: 1 hour 47 minutes
1 7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE
THE CAST
Wilfried Böse …………………………………..………………………….…………………Daniel Brühl
Brigitte Kuhlmann …………………….……………………………………………...Rosamund Pike
Shimon Peres ……………………………..……………………………………………… Eddie Marsan
Yitzhak Rabin ………………….…………………………………..………………….… Lior Ashkenazi
Jacques Lemoine ……………………………………………………………………. Denis Menochet
Zeev Hirsch ………………………………………………………………….……………. Ben Schnetzer
THE FILMMAKERS
Directed by………………………………………………………..………………………….José Padilha
Written by…………………….……………………………………………………………Gregory Burke
Produced by ………………………………………….Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Kate Solomon ...... Michelle Wright, Ron Halpern
Running Time: 1 hour 47 minutes
2 Table of Contents I. Synopsis ...... 4 II. Statement from José Padilha ...... 5 III. About the Production ...... 7 A Sense of Urgency ...... 8 A Kinetic Directorial Vision ...... 8 Aiming for Truth ...... 10 Commandoes, Politicians, Terrorists and Travelers ...... 11 Rebuilding the Past ...... 14 A Healthy Argument ...... 16 IV. About the Cast ...... 17 V. About the Filmmakers ...... 22 VI. Credits ...... 27
3 SHORT SYNOPSIS
A shocking act of terrorism leads to one of the most daring hostage rescue missions ever attempted in 7 Days in Entebbe, a riveting thriller inspired by true events. In the summer of 1976, an Air France jet traveling from Tel Aviv to Paris is takenover in midair by four hijackers; two Palestinians and two left-wing German radicals. When the plane is diverted to an abandoned terminal at Entebbe Airport in Uganda, the terrified passengers become bargaining chips in a deadly political standoff. As the likelihood of finding a diplomatic solution fades, the Israeli government sets in motion an extraordinary plan to free the prisoners before time runs out. Combining vivid historical details with pulse-quickening suspense, 7 Days in Entebbe is a powerful depiction of an international crisis that stunned the world.
LONG SYNOPSIS
When four hijackers takeover an Air France jet en route from Tel Aviv to Paris on June 27, 1976, the 248 passengers aboard are unaware of the harrowing ordeal that awaits them. Forced at gunpoint to relinquish their passports, the terrified hostages comply with their captors’ demands, while discretely attempting to hide their identities.
Two of the hijackers are Palestinian members of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations, while the other two, Wilfried Böse (Daniel Brühl) and Brigitte Kuhlmann (Rosamund Pike), are leftist German radicals sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.
Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (Lior Ashkenazi) receives word of the hijacking during a tense meeting about the country’s skyrocketing military budget. Quickly dismissing his cabinet, he and Defense Minister Shimon Peres (Eddie Marsan) debate what Israel’s response should be. Peres urges Rabin not to negotiate with the hijackers who are demanding $5 million dollars and the release of more than 50 pro-Palestinian militants imprisoned around the globe, and instead suggests a covert military solution.
The hijacked plane is diverted to Entebbe Airport in Uganda, where it is met by the country’s notorious dictator, Idi Amin (Nonso Anozie). Held captive in an abandoned transit hall under the watchful eye of additional armed hijackers, the passengers are eventually divided by nationality, with Israelis put into a separate room.
Under mounting pressure from the victims’ families, and with the threat of mass bloodshed should the hijackers ‘ demands go unmet, Rabin authorizes a daring rescue mission. Dubbed “Operation Thunderbolt,” the audacious plan requires split-second timing, the element of surprise, and cooperation from a neighboring country. As the deadline looms and tensions rise, an elite squadron of Israeli commandos race toward Entebbe in a daring and unprecedented attempt to free the hostages before it’s too late.
4 STATEMENT FROM JOSÉ PADILHA, DIRECTOR, 7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE
The raid on Entebbe, despite its acclaimed military success, has had many unintended consequences, some of which are of great historical significance. For instance, Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he entered public service because of his brother, Yoni Netanyahu (the elite forces commander of the operation), who was killed during the raid. I believe the symbolism of Yoni’s heroic death and of the operation itself have played a role in shaping Netanyahu’s political career and policies. It’s no coincidence then, that most (not all) of the docs and movies made on Entebbe narrate a military feat.
My film, Seven Days in Entebbe, tells two parallel stories about the raid: on one hand, we look at the saga of the hostages and the terrorists, and how their interaction and mental states evolved as the days went by; on the other hand, we look at the internal debate that the hijack ensued inside the Israeli Government, and at the opposing positions assumed by Defense Minister Simon Peres - who was against negotiations by default - and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin - who entertained negotiations as a real alternative.
The first narrative strand, the hijackers’ saga, is of interest to me because recent research on Entebbe contradicts the usual way those hijackers were portrayed. Take, for instance, the following statement by the British scholar Saul David in his recent book Operation Thunderbolt: “Suddenly the four terrorists on guard tumbled back through the door, led by Wilfried Böse who was holding a sub-machine gun in one hand and a grenade in the other. Looking from the back of the room, Ilan Hartuv could see Böse pointing his weapon at the hostages on the floor, many of whom were sobbing, and was convinced he was about to open fire. So too was Michel Bacos who, a day or two earlier, had been told by Böse: ‘If any army from any country comes to save you, you can rest assured that we will hear them first, and before they get to you we will kill every last one of you.’ Now Bacos felt certain Böse would carry out his threat. The German certainly had the opportunity, as did the other terrorists. But, instead of pulling the trigger, Böse jerked his head towards the back of the room and told the hostages near him to ‘retreat’ and take cover.”
Professor Saul’s account, independently repeated to us by other hostages (including Jacques Lemoine, the flight Engineer on the Air France flight 139) entails two things: 1) After spending time with the hostages, at least one of the hijackers started to think critically about his own actions. 2) The operation achieved is military success partly because the hijackers, influenced by Böse, did not make killing the hostages their number one priority when they realized that the Israelis were coming.
Reading this in Professor’s Saul’s book lead me to think about the hijackers, their different motivations, and how the hostages managed to make some of them question the premises of what they were doing. Was it the case that, at least in part, the military success achieved on Entebbe was due to the hostages themselves? That, to me, sounded like an interesting subject to explore. The construction of some of our characters, in particular that of Böse, Brigitte, Jabber and Lemoine, was meant to stimulate debate around those questions.
5
The second narrative strand of the film is directly related to one of the most crucial issues for both Israeli and Palestinian political leaders - the political implications of negotiating. And indeed, what happened in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as the crisis developed illustrates this point perfectly. If one examines the way Peres and Rabin dealt with the hijack, either by reading the transcripts of their cabinet meetings or by talking to those who were there - such as Amos Eiran, Rabin’s aide - one will notice that they had two kinds of problems to deal with. First, they had the objective problem of how to save the lives of the hostages. And they had to consider how the outcome of this very prominent hijack would affect the willingness of other terrorist groups to act against Israelis in the future. Obviously, those were legitimate policy problems. But lurking behind them, there was a third problem that was solely political: given that most of the Israeli population was against negotiations at the time, Rabin and Peres had to consider how engaging in negotiations would affect their political careers in the future. If Simon Peres could give Rabin a tenable military option, and Rabin decided to negotiate, that would give Peres a political edge over his rival. Conversely, if Rabin ended up negotiating for lack of a viable military option, the edge would be his. It is interesting to notice that Rabin approved the operation even though he had serious doubts about its possibility of success. And he had Amos Eiran draft a resignation letter.
Those seven days in 1976 shed an enlightening light on many issues we still face today. That, together with the quality of Kate Salomon's research and Gregory Burke’s writing are the main reasons why I accepted Tim Bevan’s invitation to direct the film. Indeed, investigating the political dimension of the hijack gave me some insight into a broader phenomenon, one that still constrains the very possibility of negotiations between Israel and Palestine.
Despite decades of negotiations, why today do we have a situation where the hardline position is the politically safe route for both sides of the conflict? The answer, it seems to me, is that each population lives in a state of constant fear, a state that is easily manipulated by politicians and religious leaders who gain prominence by posing as the ones who can protect their people from the “enemy.” It’s ironic, but it seems to be true: for an Israeli soldier boarding a plane on the way to a military confrontation with Palestinians is the ultimate act of courage. But for an Israeli or a Palestinian politician, the real courage is in negotiating, a fact that was sadly confirmed by the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin at the end of a rally in support for the Oslo accords. In the weeks leading up to Rabin’s murder, certain Israeli politicians adopted such an overtly anti-negotiations position that three rabbis from the West Bank went as far as suggesting that it would be acceptable to kill Rabin.
Which brings me to why I chose to insert a metaphor into my movie, and to intercut key moments of the film with the Batsheva dance piece, Echad Mi Odea, created by Ohad Narahin way after the Entebbe raid (a poetic liberty for sure). I won’t spell out the metaphor as it occurred to me, since a spelled-out metaphor loses its magic. But pay attention to the dance. The performers, dressed in traditional clothes, sing and dance to a Passover song. Their movements allude to self-inflicted pain. As the piece progresses, they strip themselves of their garments. The only dancer who doesn’t do this keeps falling from his chair over and over again.
6 ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Acclaimed producers Tim Bevan and Kate Solomon didn’t set out to become experts in cinematic depictions of real-life terrorism; it just turned out that way.
Ten years after shepherding the Oscar-nominated 9/11 drama United 93 to the screen, the pair was approached about overseeing another fact-based film centered on a passenger jet hijacking. This time the focus was on the remarkable true story of Air France Flight 139, which was hijacked by terrorists in 1976 and held for ransom at Uganda’s Entebbe Airport.
“Ron Halpern at Studiocanal approached Kate and me several years ago and said he thought the Entebbe raid could make for an interesting film,” says Bevan.
Halpern’s original concept was to tell the story from the perspective of the French pilots, so Solomon flew to France to interview several members of the real-life flight crew, including engineer Jacques Lemoine, who would eventually be portrayed in the film by actor Denis Ménochet. “When Jacques told me about the week he spent in Entebbe, I knew there was something really interesting here,” she says.
Solomon recalls Lemoine describing a pivotal moment during the raid when he and the remaining hostages were lying on the floor and the hijackers were in the terminal with them. “He was lying very close to Wilfried Böse, the German terrorist, as all of the Israeli commandos were coming. They could hear gunshots outside. He said he locked eyes with Böse, who turned his weapon away and told him to stay down. In that moment, after having spent a week with the hostages, Böse realized he couldn’t actually kill them. To me, that was a moment worth exploring.”
As they dug deeper into the events of 1976, Bevan and Solomon began to think there might be an even more compelling way to approach the story. “There were a lot of historical details about what happened that covered many different viewpoints,” explains Bevan. “For example, you have the hijackers’ point of view, the Israeli politicians’ point of view, and the Ugandans’ point of view. So it was possible take a prismatic approach to tell this complex story.”
Still, having dealt successfully with the issue of midair terrorism in the past, Solomon wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to tackle the difficult topic once again. “When this film first came to me, my natural inclination wasn’t to do another hijacking movie,” she says. “But what was really interesting about this project was how different it was from United 93, which was set in three relatively small confines. Here, we get to explore the big picture and what happened behind the scenes with Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. Also, United 93 happened in a very short period of time, while Entebbe was spread out over a full week.”
Bevan points to another important difference between the two stories: “Obviously, the great thing about this particular historical event in terms of cinema is that it ends with a thrilling rescue mission, so throughout the film you’re constantly racing towards a very exciting climax.”
7 A Sense of Urgency
To help shape their research into a script, the producers tapped Gregory Burke, who had written ’71, a historical thriller set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
“He was somebody who we were very keen to work with,” says Bevan. “This is ultimately a story about conflict. International and political conflict. Conflict between the hijackers and the passengers. Conflict between the German hijackers and the Palestinian hijackers. And within each conflict there’s something surprising going on. So it takes a deft screenwriter to be able to pull that off, and Gregory did it brilliantly.”
Solomon echoes Bevan’s praise: “Gregory writes angry young men and women really well, and he manages to capture everything with a sense of urgency. You feel like the people in his scripts are making decisions as they go. And that’s what makes this screenplay really interesting.”
Though each of the story’s dynamic characters interested Burke, the intriguing figures of Böse and Kuhlmann proved to be particularly compelling. “I was fascinated by the links between the German hijackers and their Palestinian counterparts, and the fact that they were somehow fighting on the same side,” he explains. “In the script, Böse and Brigitte feel like they have to do this because the movement they belonged to back in Germany was coming to an end. It had been eight years since the high point of revolutionary protest and things were slipping away. And so the Entebbe hijacking was almost a kind of fantasy for them.”
The story’s complex, and often contradictory, notion of heroism was another aspect of 7 Days in Entebbe the screenwriter felt passionately about. “Everybody involved in the event wanted to be the good guy,” says Burke. “That’s one of the things we deal with throughout the film. Böse and Brigitte want to be heroes. The Palestinians want to be heroes. The soldiers on the rescue mission want to be heroes. The politicians want to be heroes.”
Burke points to Israeli Defense Minister Shimon Peres as an example. “He’s not entirely sympathetic,” notes the writer. “Obviously he wants to rescue the hostages. But at the same time, politicians are always thinking about their own legacy. He has his own agenda during those scenes with Prime Minister Rabin. There’s some ego involved. There’s this constant battle about who’s going to come out on top. That’s what’s so fascinating about a situation like this.”
A Kinetic Directorial Vision
With the script in place, the producers needed a director who could capture the complex drama, riveting suspense and real-life action of 7 Days in Entebbe. They turned to José Padilha, the director of several award-winning documentaries as well as episodes of the acclaimed fact- based TV drama “Narcos.”
“I’d seen Bus 174, José Padilha’s feature documentary about a bus hijacking in Brazil, and found it to be very thrilling,” says Solomon. “José keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time,
8 and you never know what’s going to happen next. It’s a really gripping documentary, and I’d always wanted to work with him.”
For Bevan, the style and kinetic power of Padilha’s previous films made him the perfect candidate to helm 7 Days in Entebbe. “His work has a crackling energy and vision to it. You can see it in his thriller Elite Squad, and in the episodes of ‘Narcos’ he directed,” says the producer. “With a film like this, it was important to find someone who wasn’t going to hold the camera still. We needed someone who knew how to move it quite a bit and make sure that all of the scenes have a sense of vibrancy about them.”
Padilha, who was somewhat familiar with the history of the Entebbe hijacking, was impressed with the script. “I had a few ideas about further development, but I really liked the writing and how he was telling the story,” he says. “Greg has an incredible ability to write interesting dialogue that sounds radically true. So I told them to count me in.”
According to Solomon, Padilha’s contributions to the screenplay helped raise the bar substantially. “One of the many things that José brought to the film, which completely elevated it, was the idea of incorporating the modern dance company into the plot. Although most of the film is inspired by true events, José came up with the idea of making the lead soldier’s girlfriend a dancer in a contemporary dance troupe that was performing throughout Israel back then.”
The film opens with the dancers, clad in Haredi Jewish garb, stepping onto stage, and getting ready to perform the "chair dance" sequence from famed Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin’s 1990 work, "Echad Mi Yodea.” This symbolizes the inflow of Jewish people to Palestine right before and right after World War II. Then, as the curtain opens and the dancers start to perform, title cards present the problems that ensued, setting up the context for the events that took place on those seven days in Entebbe.
Performed by the world-renowned Batsheva Dance Company, the hypnotic dance incorporates a row of chairs on stage. Additional excerpts from the dance are interspersed throughout the film, culminating in a breathtakingly executed finale over the end title credits.
While the dance scenes don’t correspond to a specific interpretation of the dance piece itself, in the context of the film they echo many of the film's thematic preoccupations, such as the tension between fear and peace, and the very debate that Rabin and Peres were having at the time: should Israel invest so much in its military defense, or should it invest in things like culture and education . With their pent-up energy, the dancers’ bodies, their movements suggesting self-inflicted pain, are an implicit comment on the story the audience is witnessing.
The dance also helps emphasize the duality at the heart of the Entebbe situation, according to Solomon. “It shows the two sides of Israel. The girlfriend doesn’t want him to go into battle. But he says, ‘I fight so you can dance.’ And she replies, "What if I stop dancing?’”
9 As the dance progresses, the dancers gradually strip themselves of their Haredi clothes. “Metaphorically, they’re shedding their orthodoxy,” explains Padilha. “They’re breaking free from tradition by opening themselves up to new ideas that might contradict their old beliefs.”
The director sees this as a symbol for the larger conflict between Israel and Palestine. “To me, the dance is about casting off your preconceptions in order to live peacefully with people who are different from you,” he says. “Of course, the political situation is extremely complicated, but I think a solution may require the removal of preconceptions from both sides.”
Aiming for Truth
Padilha was deeply committed to accurately portraying the events depicted in 7 Days in Entebbe. “It was very important to me to try to get as many details right as possible,” he says. “We talked to lots of people who were there at the time, including five or six soldiers who were part of the raid itself. The criteria was to run with direct witnesses, as opposed to people who said ‘I heard’ or ‘I believe’ it was like this. So I think we are close to the truth.”
To lend the film’s climactic action sequences a high degree of authenticity, the production enlisted technical and military advisers, several of whom were at Entebbe during the rescue mission.
“Having veterans of the Entebbe raid available to us was important,” says Solomon. “Two of the soldiers who were there helped train our guys, and they were on set the night we shot the raid, which was amazing. If any actor or crew member had a question about where things happened or what they’d be doing, the veterans could answer them instantly.”
In addition to soldiers and members of the Israeli government, the filmmakers contacted several of the surviving hostages. “What we learned is that everyone has a different story to tell,” says Padilha. “Going by the testimonies alone doesn’t give you an entirely clear picture, since they frequently disagree on key moments. Although we aim for the truth, what we’re really telling is a version of it. We tried to get as close as we could to reality, but I don’t think anybody can claim to know exactly what took place at Entebbe.”
Among the technical advisers on the film was Amir Ofer, a former member of the Israeli Defense Force and a veteran of the raid. “I was approached by director José Padilha, who told me he was trying to make the most accurate film about Entebbe possible,” says Ofer. “Of course, it’s still a movie, so there needed to be some additional material included. But he really was looking to create the most authentic depiction of the operation itself.”
While on set, Ofer assisted the actors with technical details like how to hold their rifles and how to aim at targets. “But what was even more important was to explain to them exactly where we stopped, the way we ran from the vehicles to the terminal, where we turned, where people died, and so on.”
10 Eager to include as many different perspectives of the event as possible, the filmmakers sought to explore the mindsets of the hijackers themselves. Since none of the terrorists survived the raid, Burke conducted research including speaking with individuals with direct knowledge of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and their political beliefs and motivations.
To help shed additional light on the hijackers thought process, Solomon and her team also turned to a 1990 documentary on the subject. “They managed to find the cousin of Jaaber, one of the original Entebbe hijackers,” says Solomon, “who talked about some of the things that were then included in our script, including what kind of person Jaaber was, how he loved his country, and how he felt he was a martyr.”
When it came to researching Germany’s Revolutionary Cells organization, Solomon was aided immeasurably by Dr. Katharina Karcher, a German studies professor at Cambridge University specializing in radical protest and political violence. “I attended a conference with the world’s leading experts on the subject, and discussed their findings with her,” says the producer. “She’s seen the film and is very supportive of it.”
Commandos, Politicians, Terrorists and Travelers
To bring the desperate and dangerous characters in 7 Days in Entebbe to life, the filmmakers assembled an international cast of award-winning actors from film and television.
Oscar nominee Rosamund Pike was drawn to the role of German terrorist Brigitte Kuhlmann in part by the prospect of working with director Padilha. “When I met José, I saw his passion for the project,” says the London-born actress. “It was clear from the beginning that he didn’t want to make an easy film. He didn’t want to give the audience the standard heroes and villains they’ve seen before.”
No stranger to playing characters that combine elements of good and evil, the actress found the film’s depiction of Kuhlmann impossible to resist. “The script really takes you inside the minds of the hijackers,” says the star of Gone Girl and Hostiles. “In most films, terrorists tend to be such unknown and personality-free figures. So it’s quite interesting to get to know what’s driving them in this story. If we get it right, you might, at certain moments, feel something for Brigitte and Böse.”
The complexity of Kuhlmann’s motivation was another attractive quality for Pike. “I was interested in the uncertainty on all sides here,” she explains. “There’s a debate about morality in the film. What’s the right thing to do? My character is a German left-wing intellectual who felt she had a moral urgency behind her cause. She wasn’t necessarily aiming to kill anyone, and that makes it very interesting.”
Though Padilha was thrilled with the idea of Pike playing the role, the issue of language was initially a concern. “I wanted the German hijackers to speak to each other in fluent German,
11 because that’s what they would do in real life,” says Padilha. “So, we were looking for an actress who could speak German.”
During Padilha’s first meeting with the actress, he asked her directly if she could speak German. “She suggested she could learn it phonetically,” recalls Padilha. “And I thought, really? I mean, how are you going to learn German phonetically?”
Ultimately, Pike performed all of the necessary dialogue in German. “We had a German language coach who worked with her extensively to make it as authentic as possible,” says Padilha.
To play German terrorist Wilfried Böse, the producers cast German-Spanish actor Daniel Brühl. The complexities and psychological depth in Burke’s screenplay immediately piqued Brühl’s interest in the project. “I was speechless and surprised when I first read the script,” says Brühl. “I knew about Entebbe and I’d seen one of the earlier films on the subject, but reading this particular script made me aware of so many additional details that are absolutely fascinating. The script made it clear what drove each of the individual groups involved.”
Pike was thrilled at the decision to cast Brühl. “I’d wanted to work with Daniel ever since I saw him in Good Bye Lenin!,” says the actress. “And I thought he was just phenomenal as race car driver Niki Lauda in Rush.”
To prepare for the role, Brühl read several books about Germany’s radical Revolutionary Cells group and studied documentaries and films dealing with the time period in order to reacquaint himself with the way that people looked, spoke and moved. The actor also relied on the first- hand accounts of Ofer, the former soldier who participated in the raid.
“It was very impressive to have a real witness on the set with us,” says Brühl. “He, of course, had an individual perspective on the event. Although it was fascinating to talk to him, I had to keep my distance in order to portray Böse successfully. I couldn’t fully agree with things he was telling me. It was quite freaky.”
Despite the nature of the subject matter, the actor says director Padilha created an upbeat and contagious energy on set. “When working with José, you have to be very prepared because he always comes up with new ideas at the last minute,” says Brühl. “It’s a very refreshing process. You have to always be prepared to reinvent scenes, to try something new, or to improvise. It’s a documentary way of approaching the material, and as an actor it was very rewarding.”
For the crucially important roles of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Defense Minister Shimon Peres, the filmmakers cast Israeli actor Lior Ashkenazi and British actor Eddie Marsan, respectively. Though the film pits the two politicians against each other in terms of how best to deal with the situation in Entebbe, both performers approached their parts from a nearly identical perspective.
12 “Playing Rabin is a huge challenge because he’s such an important historical figure,” says Ashkenazi, who starred in the Oscar-nominated drama Footnote. “I didn’t want to imitate or caricature him. Instead, I talked with José about developing the portrayal using small details, like the way he smoked, or the way he moved his head. Little things like that. I spoke to his family and asked them to bring me some home movies to look at. Curiously enough, although he was always filming, he never filmed himself.”
Like his co-star, Marsan worked hard to avoid surface imitation. “The key to portraying Shimon Peres is to avoid playing him as an archetype,” he says. “The goal is to play him as an authentic human being with paradoxical thoughts and the kind of complexity that we don’t allow archetypes to have.”
The film’s willingness to explore the ethically murky area surrounding the event appealed to Marsan and helped convince him to accept the role. “I think 7 Days in Entebbe is an answer to populism, which demands that there be heroes and villains,” says Marsan. “Populism paints the world as much simpler than it really is. That’s one of the things I discussed with José at our first meeting. Every character in this film sees and hears things from his or her individual perspective.”
As Jacques Lemoine, the French flight engineer whose courage under pressure helped keep the hundreds of hostages safe, actor Denis Ménochet brings a reassuring sense of calm and forthrightness to the role. Often cast as a violent thug or diabolical villain, Ménochet was extremely happy to switch gears in 7 Days in Entebbe.
“I loved the script because it was very dynamic,” says Ménochet. “Also, my character was a good guy for once. Jacques is trying to help all the time. He’s trying to protect the passengers inside the plane, and he’s trying to keep them safe throughout the entire incident, so that was a lot fun to do.”
Although Ménochet found the experience hugely rewarding, he acknowledges the challenge of portraying a real-life hero. “I was able to talk for two hours on the phone with the person I’m playing in the film, which was priceless,” he says. “Jacques walked me through exactly what happened from his perspective, and how he felt about it. That was just pure gold for me.”
Though his character escapes physically unharmed in the film, Ménochet himself was not so lucky. An accident in the plane’s cramped cockpit set while filming the initial hijacking scene resulted in a painful situation for the actor. “Daniel Brühl is a friend of mine and was very easy to work with, except when he cracked my face open,” says Ménochet with a laugh. “I was standing directly behind the door to the cockpit, and he slammed it open right in my face. I got two scars, and there was a lot of blood and a lot of drama. But I love Daniel. He’s amazing.”
13 Also appearing in the film are actors Angel Bonanni, as legendary Israeli Defense Force Commander Yonatan Netanyahu, and Ben Schnetzer, playing Zeev, an elite soldier involved in the Entebbe raid.
Bonanni admits to feeling “an immense sense of pressure portraying such an iconic figure,” but was reassured by Padilha’s no-nonsense style of direction. “José doesn’t beat around the bush,” says the actor. “He’s very straightforward, and if he doesn’t like something, he says it. He shoots things very realistically, and you never feel like cameras are trained on you. Sometimes you don’t even know where the cameras are. It’s like a documentary.”
Schnetzer’s character, Zeev, is a composite of various members of the assault unit that raided Entebbe. “He’s a soldier who takes part in the mission and ends up being the first person in the terminal when they land in Uganda,” says Schnetzer.
Though many of the actors in the film were able to research their roles with relative ease, Schnetzer hit an unexpected hurdle when it came to delving into the history of the Entebbe team.
“As soon as I was cast in the role, I dove into research, but it’s tricky because the commando unit itself is top secret,” Schnetzer explains. “And a lot of the material that’s been written about this particular unit has been romanticized over the years. The facts have become somewhat twisted. So being able to get up close and personal with members of the actual assault team while we were on set has been invaluable. They’re cut from a very unique cloth.”
Rounding out the international cast are Arab-Israeli actors Ehab Bahous and Amir Khoury, both of whom speak Palestinian Arabic throughout the film, and Moroccan actors Noof McEwan and Omar Berdouni. “Tim and I worked with Omar previously on United 93,” says Solomon. “He’s incredibly sensitive and a truly wonderful actor.”
Rebuilding the Past
Finding a location to shoot the abandoned Entebbe air terminal proved to be one of the biggest challenges the filmmakers faced. “When it came to building the terminal, the question was how to do it,” says Padilha. “I’d always wanted to construct it without visual effects, or using as few effects as possible, because I like the documentary quality of shooting on an actual set.”
According to producer Michelle Wright, the answer lay in the central Mediterranean island nation of Malta. “It took a lot of scouting various locations to figure out what would be best for filming the terminal scenes,” she says. “That’s because we had to work with very large airplanes, like C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. Malta turned out to be a great choice.”
Constructing the Entebbe air terminal required a large crew working around the clock, but the results were well worth it, says Wright. “In Malta, we had a crew of about 138, and 60 of them
14 were involved with physical construction. They built a perfect replica of the original Entebbe terminal in seven and a half weeks, which would’ve taken much longer in other places. It was a tremendous effort.”
Production designer Kave Quinn collected an enormous amount of vintage photographs and archival film footage — some shot by Ugandan President Idi Amin for his own personal use — in order to re-create the Entebbe terminal to its exact specifications.
“With José, everything had to appear authentic, but it also had to look really good,” says Quinn. “And because it had to fit the airport’s safety regulations, we laid the proper foundations and built a steel structure. We couldn’t cheat at all.”
Charlo Dalli, the film’s art director, was equally impressed with the production’s commitment to authenticity. “What we were able to accomplish in Malta was absolutely brilliant,” says Dalli, whose recent credits include Murder on the Orient Express and 13 Hours. “Working on the edge of a live airport means we can bring in our prop airplanes and park them on our set like it’s the most magnificent backlot you could possibly imagine. We were detail-obsessed in every area, from construction and art direction to makeup and wardrobe.”
Costumes were an element that Padilha felt was particularly important to the success of the film. “The actual hostages stayed for a week at Entebbe without being able to change their clothes,” he observes. “So a large part of the story is told by showing how their clothing changed throughout that period.”
Having worked with Padilha and cinematographer Lula Carvalho on “Narcos,” costume designer Bina Daigeler felt certain she could give the director exactly what he needed. In terms of the passengers’ clothing, she says she chose to avoid emphasizing ’70s fashions so viewers could more easily identify with the hostages. “The passengers were very casually dressed on the plane, so I tried to give them an extremely casual look. I didn’t want them to appear like they’re from a distant past.”
Working with vintage fabrics from the period, however, proved to be an unexpected challenge for the designer. “Most of the clothes from the period were polyester and made with synthetic materials,” says Daigeler. “So when we started to age them, or add sweat — because Entebbe is very hot in July — the sweat stains didn’t show on the costumes or on camera. It sounds like a ridiculous problem, but it was a real issue for us. We tried a thousand different kinds of mixtures, with all different types of water and colors until we finally found the right way to do it so that we could see the hostages’ sweat.”
For producer Bevan, the film’s remarkable retro look is a credit to all involved. “As far as the art direction, wardrobe and cinematography goes, we wanted 7 Days in Entebbe to feel like it was made in the ’70s, rather than looking back on that decade. And each department helped us achieve that goal.”
15
A Healthy Argument
Reflecting on the experience of producing 7 Days in Entebbe, Solomon is convinced that the time is right to revisit this important story.
“Terrorism continues to occur, and Israel and the Palestinians are still very much in conflict,” says Solomon. “But by looking at this historical event through many different perspectives, we can better understand the decision making process that got us here.”
To illustrate her point, she points to a crucial moment at the very end of the film. “After the hostages have all been rescued, Yitzhak Rabin says that if his government doesn’t talk to the other side, they’ll never progress past where they are. So that’s one of the film’s biggest messages. You’ve got to talk to people.”
Like Solomon, co-star Brühl sees many parallels between the events depicted in the film and the world we live in today. “It’s fascinating to revisit the ’70s and see how incredibly relevant the subject matter still is,” says Brühl. “The issues we’re dealing with in this story have not been resolved, but perhaps you can approach them more successfully if you just have a look back.”
Bevan agrees. “7 Days in Entebbe is a political thriller about a world that’s not dissimilar to our own, and it offers insight into politics that are appropriate to our culture today,” says the producer. “I hope audiences get a visceral pleasure out of it because it’s exciting. And I also hope they go out and have a healthy argument about it afterward.”
16 ABOUT THE CAST
DANIEL BRÜHL (Wilfried Böse) is an award-winning actor who has been involved in many critically acclaimed film and television projects, garnering international recognition for his talent and versatility. His breakthrough role came in Ron Howard’s 2013 Formula One drama Rush, opposite Chris Hemsworth. Brühl’s performance was nominated for Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG and Critics Choice awards (Best Supporting Actor). Previously, the actor became known to American audiences for his scene-stealing turn as Frederick Zoller in Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar winner Inglourious Basterds, opposite Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz.
Brühl can now be seen in the lead role of criminal psychologist Dr. Laszlo Kreizler in Cary Fukunaga’s new TNT drama “The Alienist,” co-starring Luke Evans and Dakota Fanning. The series is based on the bestselling novel by Caleb Carr.
Next, Brühl begins production on Julie Delpy’s My Zoe, which his production company, Amusement Park Films, will produce. My Zoe explores the lengths to which a mother’s love for her child might go. In April Brühl appears in J.J. Abrams’ God Particle, about a group of astronauts fighting for survival. Julius Onah directs a cast that includes David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Elizabeth Debicki and Chris O’Dowd.
Previously, Brühl starred in Niki Caro’s The Zookeeper’s Wife, opposite Jessica Chastain; Vincent Perez’s Alone in Berlin, with Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson; Joe and Anthony Russo’s Captain America: Civil War, alongside Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans; The Colony, opposite Emma Watson; Burnt, co-starring Alicia Vikander and Bradley Cooper; Simon Curtis’s Woman in Gold, with Helen Mirren and Max Irons; Michael Winterbottom’s The Face of an Angel, opposite Kate Beckinsale and Cara Delevingne; Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man, with Rachel McAdams and Philip Seymour Hoffman; and Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate, opposite Benedict Cumberbatch.
Before coming to the U.S., Brühl was already an established, award-winning actor in Europe. For his role in Good Bye Lenin! (2003), he won the European Film Award for Best Actor and the German Film Award for Best Actor. Brühl’s other film credits include Me and Kaminski, The White Sound, Ladies in Lavender, All Together, Love in Thoughts, The Edukators, Joyeux Noel, Salvador (Puig Antich), The Bourne Ultimatum, The Countess and In Transit.
Brühl speaks fluent German, English, Spanish and French.
ROSAMUND PIKE (Brigitte Kuhlmann) is an Academy Award® nominee who has earned international acclaim for both her stage and film roles. In 2014 she starred opposite Ben Affleck in David Fincher’s Gone Girl, which earned more than $215 million in global ticket sales. Pike was nominated for an Oscar®, a Golden Globe, a SAG Award® and a Critics’ Choice Movie Award. Additionally, her performance was honored with the Breakthrough Performance Award at the 26th Annual Palm Springs Film Festival and Women in Film & TV (U.K.) Awards. She also won the Austin Film Critics Association Award, Utah Film Critics Association Award and Oklahoma Film Critics’ Circle Award, among a host of other honors around the world.
17 Most recently, Pike starred in Scott Cooper’s Western Hostiles, playing a young widow who accompanies Christian Bale’s legendary Army captain as he escorts a Cheyenne chief and family through dangerous territory. In Brad Anderson’s forthcoming political thriller Beirut, Pike plays a CIA field agent who is based in 1970s Lebanon.
Pike recently wrapped filming on Andrea Di Stefano’s crime thriller Three Seconds, alongside Joel Kinnaman and Clive Owen. She also plays the lead in The Human Voice, an adaptation from the play by Jean Cocteau. This short film is an unflinching portrait of a woman’s heartbreak over the course of two lovers’ final telephone conversation.
It has been announced that Pike will portray iconic scientist Marie Curie in Radioactive. The Working Title production will be directed by Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and is based on Lauren Redniss’ novel Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout. Pike will also play legendary Sunday Times war reporter Marie Colvin in A Private War, based on Marie Brenner’s Vanity Fair article. Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land, City of Ghosts) will direct.
Pike’s recent work includes Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom, opposite David Oyelowo; Peter Chelsom’s Hector and the Search for Happiness, with Simon Pegg and Toni Collette; Barney’s Version, opposite Paul Giamatti (London Critics’ Circle Award for “British Actress of the Year,” Genie Award nomination); Lone Scherfig’s An Education, with Peter Sarsgaard and Carey Mulligan; and Made in Dagenham, with Sally Hawkins and Bob Hoskins (London Critics’ Circle Award nomination).
Pike’s other film credits include The Man with the Iron Heart, A Long Way Down, The World’s End, Jack Reacher, Wrath of the Titans, Johnny English Reborn, The Big Year, The Libertine, Pride & Prejudice, Fracture, Fugitive Pieces, Surrogates, Burning Palms and Die Another Day.
On the small screen, Pike appeared in Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin’s partially improvised BBC comedy “What We Did on Our Holiday,” alongside Billy Connolly and David Tennant; and a mini-series adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s “Women in Love.”
Aside from her cinematic roles, Pike has continued to return to her roots with performances on the London stage, where her performance in the title role in “Hedda Gabler” received rave reviews. She has also starred in “Gaslight,” Patrick Hamilton’s Victorian thriller, at the Old Vic Theatre; “Madame De Sade,” opposite Judi Dench in London’s West End; and “Hitchcock Blonde,” at the Lyric Theatre.
EDDIE MARSAN (Shimon Peres) is one of the most versatile actors working today, with an impressive body of work spanning 20 years. He first gained attention in the U.K. for his portrayal of Eddie Mays in Paul McGuigan’s Gangster No 1. Two years later brought the part of Killoran, Jim Broadbent’s henchman, in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. In 2004 Marsan earned critical acclaim for his performance in Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake, alongside Imelda Staunton. Marsan won Best Supporting Actor at the 2004 British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) and was nominated in that category by the London Film Critics Circle. That same year Marsan made his first foray into American cinema, co-starring in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s
18 21 Grams. Since then Marsan has worked continually in both the U.K. and the U.S., teaming up with directors such as Michael Mann, Terrence Malik, J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg, Richard Linklater and Peter Berg.
In 2008 Marsan won BIFA, London Film Critics Circle and National Society of Film Critics (U.S.) awards for his supporting role in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky. He garnered his third BIFA nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the hugely successful Tyrannosaur (2011).
Next, Marsan voices the character of Vihaan in Andy Serkis’ The Jungle Book, a live-action adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic novel that also stars Christian Bale, Benedict Cumberbatch and Cate Blanchett. The film is due for release this October. 2018 will also see Marsan co-star in the sequel to the hugely popular superhero film Deadpool. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin and Morena Baccarin, David Leitch’s action-comedy is set for a May release.
Marsan will also be seen in Yann Demange’s White Boy Rick, alongside Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Jason Leigh; Lee Tamahori’s Emperor, opposite Adrien Brody, Sophie Cookson and Thomas Kretschmann; and Adam McKay’s Backseat, with Christian Bale, Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell. Marsan is about to relocate from Los Angeles to New York to start shooting season six of the popular Showtime crime drama “Ray Donovan,” opposite Liev Schreiber and Golden Globe winner Jon Voight.
Marsan recently appeared in David Leitch’s Atomic Blonde, alongside James McAvoy, Charlize Theron and John Goodman; Their Finest, with Bill Nighy, Gemma Arterton and Sam Claflin; Juan Carlos Medina’s The Limehouse Golem, opposite Bill Nighy, Daniel Mays and Olivia Cooke; Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House, co-starring Liam Neeson and Diane Lane; David Leveaux’s The Exception, alongside Christopher Plummer and Janet McTeer; and Andy Goddard’s A Kind of Murder, with Jessica Biel, Haley Bennett and Patrick Wilson.
The actor’s other film credits include A Brilliant Young Mind, alongside Sally Hawkins and Rafe Spall; The Disappearance of Alice Creed, with Gemma Arterton and Martin Compston (Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor); Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, both co-starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law; War Horse, directed by Steven Spielberg; The World’s End, with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost; Filth, alongside James McAvoy and Jamie Bell (BIFA Award nomination); Still Life, with Joanne Froggatt; God’s Pocket, with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christina Hendricks; V for Vendetta alongside Natalie Portman; Mission: Impossible III, opposite Tom Cruise; and Hancock, with Will Smith.
Marsan’s work in television has also been highly regarded. He was seen in “Little Dorrit,” 2008’s internationally acclaimed BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel, which won best miniseries at the Emmy Awards® and received a Golden Globe nomination. 2009 saw Marsan co-star in the 1970s-set Channel 4 trilogy “Red Riding.” In 2012 he earned plaudits for his work in the BBC’s “The Best of Men,” alongside Rob Brydon, and he also appeared in the Channel 4 miniseries “Southcliffe,” alongside Rory Kinnear and Sean Harris.
19 More recently, Marsan played one of the title roles in “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell,” the highly anticipated adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s bestselling novel. The BBC drama also starred Bertie Carvel, Alice Englert and Marc Warren. He was also seen in the BBC’s six-part drama “River,” alongside Stellan Skarsgård and Lesley Manville.
BEN SCHNETZER (Zeev Hirsch) is a talented actor on the rise who consistently elevates his body of work by bringing dynamic characters to life in a wide range of film, theater and television roles. For his performance in Matthew Warchus’ Pride, opposite Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton, he garnered two British Independent Film Awards nominations (Best Supporting Actor, Most Promising Newcomer).
Schnetzer recently wrapped production on Jean-Jacques Annaud’s 10-part Epix TV series “The Truth About Harry Quebert Affair,” co-starring Patrick Dempsey, Damon Wayans Jr. and Virginia Madsen. The series is based on the bestselling Swiss novel by Joël Dicker. Schnetzer also completed production on Sean Hanish’s Saint Judy, with Michelle Monaghan. The film is based on the true story of immigration attorney Judy Wood (Monaghan). Schnetzer plays a recent law-school graduate who helps Wood prepare for a pivotal case before the 9th Circuit. Now in postproduction is The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, with Natalie Portman and Jessica Chastain; as well as Miranda de Pencier’s The Grizzlies, in which he plays the lead role.
Schnetzer’s other film credits include Oliver Stone’s Snowden, co-starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley; Bronwen Hughes’ The Journey Is the Destination, opposite Maria Bello; Andrew Neel’s Goat, alongside Nick Jonas; Duncan Jones’ Warcraft: The Beginning, opposite Dominic Cooper and Ruth Negga; Lone Scherfig’s The Riot Club, with Sam Claflin and Max Irons; and Brian Percival’s The Book Thief, alongside Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush.
The actor made his film debut in the indie drama Ben’s Plan. He then landed a series-regular role on ABC’s “Happy Town,” about the kidnappings that occurred in a small town in Minnesota over the course of a decade.
Schnetzer began acting at age 11, when he played the Artful Dodger in a production of “Oliver.” He then studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he appeared in numerous productions including “Oedipus,” “As You Like It,” “Merrily We Roll Along” and “Widower’s Houses.”
Schnetzer currently resides in New York City.
LIOR ASHKENAZI (Yitzak Rabin) is one of Israel’s most prominent stage, television and film actors. This year, he won Best Actor at the Ophir Awards, Israel’s version of the Oscars, for his performance as Michael Feldmann in Samuel Maoz’s Foxtrot. The film also won awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Music, Best Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Soundtrack.
Last year, Ashkenazi starred opposite Richard Gere in Joseph Cedar’s political drama Norman, playing fictional Israeli Prime Minister Micha Eshel. In 2013, he played a disturbed, violent cop in the Israeli thriller Big Bad Wolves, which Quentin Tarantino called “the best film of the year.”
20 In 2011, Ashkenazi won the Israeli Film Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Joseph Cedar’s Footnote, which was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar. He also won the Israeli Film Academy Award for Best Actor for his breakthrough role in director Dover Koshashvili’s Late Marriage.
On television, Ashkenazi starred in the Israel’s “Betipul” which was later adapted into HBO’s hit series “In Treatment.” He also starred in the Israeli version of “Married… With Children.”
21 ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
JOSÉ PADILHA (Director) is a Brazilian director, producer and writer of documentaries and feature films. He is also a commentator for O Globo, a major newspaper in Brazil. Padilha is best known for writing, directing and producing the critical and financial successes Elite Squad and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within. The first film won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival. Padilha won Emmy and Peabody awards for “Bus 174,” a documentary he produced and directed. He is also an executive producer (and director of the pilot) for the Netflix original series “Narcos,” which was nominated for a Golden Globe. Padilha’s first American film was the 2014 remake of RoboCop, starring Joel Kinnaman. He also directed a segment of Rio, I Love You.
Padilha is the creator and producer of the Netflix original series “The Mechanism,” which premieres in March.
GREGORY BURKE (Writer) is an acclaimed Scottish writer whose first play, “Gagarin Way,” won both the Most Promising Playwright Award and Best New Play at the TMA Barclays Awards. His play “Black Watch,” written for the National Theatre of Scotland, debuted at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won the Writers Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Play, as well as four Oliver Awards. It was turned into a telefilm in 2007.
Burke’s first produced film was the BAFTA Award nominee 71, directed by Yann Demange. Burke was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay and won Best Writer Film/TV at the BAFTA Scotland Awards, among other accolades. Burke has continued his collaboration with Demange on a new, as-yet untitled film with producers Plan B and Angus Lamont (New Regency).
The writer is currently adapting the Don McCullin autobiography Unreasonable Behavior for Working Title and actor Tom Hardy. He is also developing a film with director David Mackenzie.
TIM BEVAN and ERIC FELLNER (Producers) have co-chaired Working Title Films since 1992, building one of the world’s leading film production companies. Founded in 1983, Working Title has made more than 100 films that have grossed over $7 billion worldwide. The company’s films have won 12 Academy Awards, 39 BAFTA Awards and prizes at the Cannes and Berlin film festivals. Their Oscar-winning productions include such films as Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables and The Danish Girl, James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything, Tim Robbins’ Dead Man Walking, Joel and Ethan Coen’s Fargo, Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and Joe Wright’s Atonement and Anna Karenina.
The Producers Guild of America (PGA) honored Bevan and Fellner with its David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures. They have also received two of the most prestigious honors accorded to British filmmakers: the BAFTAs’ Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema and the Alexander Walker Award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards. Both men have been honored with CBEs (Commanders of the Order of the British Empire).
22 Working Title’s recent releases include Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour, starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill; Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, starring Ansel Elgort, Lily James and Jamie Foxx; and Stephen Frears’ Victoria & Abdul, starring Judi Dench as Queen Victoria. Upcoming projects include David Kerr’s Johnny English 3, starring Rowan Atkinson; James Marsh’s Night in Hatton Garden, starring Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent and Ray Winstone; Josie Rourke’s Mary, Queen of Scots, starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie; and Joe Cornish’s The Kid Who Would Be King, starring Patrick Stewart and Rebecca Ferguson.
Working Title enjoys successful creative collaborations with filmmakers such as the Coen brothers, Richard Curtis, Stephen Daldry, Paul Greengrass, Tom Hooper, Ron Howard, Edgar Wright and Joe Wright. In addition to the titles listed above, the company’s many notable credits include Mike Newell’s Four Weddings and a Funeral, starring Hugh Grant; Richard Curtis’ Love Actually and About Time, with all-star casts; Roger Michell’s Notting Hill, with Julia Roberts; both Bean movies, starring Rowan Atkinson; Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End, with Simon Pegg; Paul and Chris Weitz’s About a Boy, with Hugh Grant; Sydney Pollack’s The Interpreter, starring Nicole Kidman; the Bridget Jones trilogy, starring Renée Zellweger; Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice, with Keira Knightley; Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, starring Gary Oldman; Asif Kapadia’s Senna, the company’s first documentary feature; Paul Greengrass’ United 93, an Oscar nominee for Best Director; Baltasar Kormákur’s Contraband and Everest; and Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon and Rush.
The success of the film Billy Elliot, directed by Stephen Daldry, has continued on stage with “Billy Elliot the Musical,” directed by Daldry with music by Elton John. The winner of 76 international theater awards, the production ran for 11 years in London before beginning a world tour. It ran for over three years on Broadway, winning 10 Tony Awards® in 2009 including Best Musical and Best Director. The show has now been seen by over 10 million people worldwide.
MICHELLE WRIGHT (Producer) joined Working Title Films in 1999 as head of production. It was at the multi-award-winning British production company that she oversaw the production of over 50 feature films and worked alongside directors such as Richard Curtis, Stephen Frears, Paul Greengrass, the Coen brothers, Sydney Pollack and Edgar Wright.
In 2016 she began producing for Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, initially executive producing Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver for MRC, Big Talk Productions and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Wright is currently in post-production on James Marsh’s King of Thieves, for StudioCanal.
KATE SOLOMON (Producer) specializes in real-life stories. Starting with research and first- person interviews, she works closely with directors and writers to create narrative and identify the characters that can drive a story. Her success comes from her understanding of the relevance of past events to today’s world and her ability to help bring this to an audience in a gripping and immersive manner. Solomon’s recent producing credits include Stephen Frears’ Lance Armstrong film The Program and Brian Helgeland’s Legend, starring Tom Hardy. She is
23 currently in development on features with Working Title and StudioCanal as well as television series with ABC and Rhodri Thomas.
After studying anthropology at University College London and ethnographic film with the ANU in India, Solomon began her career in documentaries in 1999 by directing and producing for Channel 4, BBC and PBS. In 2005 she moved into features, for the next six years running development and producing for director Paul Greengrass. Their collaborations included the Oscar-nominated drama United 93, about the fourth hijacked plane on 9/11, and Green Zone, starring Matt Damon and set against the backdrop of the Iraq War.
In 2011 Solomon decided to set out on her own and began producing independently, as well as writing. She was chosen as one of BAFTA’s inaugural “Brits to Watch” in 2011, an initiative showcasing new British talent to the international film industry. The following year Working Title commissioned her to write a screenplay based on her original female-driven thriller pitch.
RON HALPERN (Producer) has been in charge of international productions and acquisitions for StudioCanal since 2007, overseeing its growth in international production and strongly contributing to the studio becoming a European major. His productions include BAFTA winner and Academy Award nominee Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, with Gary Oldman; Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis, awarded the Jury’s Grand Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival; Non-Stop, with Liam Neeson; Academy Award nominee A War, directed by Tobias Lindholm; and A Bigger Splash, directed by Luca Guadagnino. He also worked on Paul King’s Paddington and its new sequel (with Hugh Grant and Brendan Gleeson joining the cast), as well as Nick Park’s Shaun the Sheep Movie and the forthcoming Shaun the Sheep 2.
Now in theaters is The Commuter, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and starring Liam Neeson, and up next is Nick Park’s Early Man, featuring the voice acting of Tom Hiddleston and Maisie Williams.
Halpern’s acquisitions for StudioCanal have included such films as The Place Beyond the Pines, Silver Linings Playbook, Moonrise Kingdom and The Imitation Game. He also oversees the company’s theatrical adaptations and productions, notably “The Producers,” “The Graduate” and “The Ladykillers.”
Before joining StudioCanal, Halpern worked for CBS Sports on the network’s coverage of three Winter Olympic Games. He holds a B.A. and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.
LULA CARVALHO, ASC, ABC (Director of Photography) worked with frequent collaborator José Padilha on their first U.S. studio feature, RoboCop, MGM’s remake of the science fiction classic. He then lensed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in New York City for director Jonathan Liebesman and was asked back to shoot the sequel. Carvalho’s other credits include the first season of the acclaimed Netflix series “Narcos,” for which Padilha directed two episodes; Bingo: The King of the Mornings, directed by Daniel Rezende; The Dead Girl’s Feast, which was an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival; and Fernando Coimbra’s A Wolf at the Door, for which he won the Best Cinematography Award of the ABC (Association of Brazilian Cinematographers).
24 Carvalho was born in Rio de Janeiro and became accustomed to being on film sets at a very early age by tagging along with his father, the respected cinematographer and director Walter Carvalho. He was loading camera magazines by the age of 10. Working his way up, he pulled focus on about 20 Brazilian features, including Fernando Meirelles’ City of God, Walter Salles’ Behind the Sun and Hector Babenco’s Carandiru while also working as a cinematographer on short films, documentaries, music videos and second units. Then, in New York, he completed cinematography and still-photography classes at New York University and the School of Visual Arts.
One of Carvalho’s first features as a DP was José Padilha’s Elite Squad, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. His work on the film was recognized with the Brazilian Cinema Academy and International Press Correspondents Association’s (ACIE) Best Cinematography Prize and garnered a nomination at the CAMERIMAGE Festival in Poland. Carvalho won the same two honors for Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within.
KAVE QUINN (Production Designer) is a British-born production designer who has been working in film and television since the early nineties. Early in her career, Quinn designed Danny Boyle’s directorial debut, Shallow Grave, which won Best British Film at the 1995 BAFTA Awards. Following this successful collaboration Quinn went on to design Boyle’s iconic feature Trainspotting, which was an Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival, won a BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for an Oscar in the same category. She went on to work with Boyle again on A Life Less Ordinary.
Quinn recently designed Max Minghella’s directorial debut Teen Spirit, starring Elle Fanning and produced by Automatik Entertainment. She is currently working on Judy, directed by Rupert Gould, for Calamity Films and Pathé.
Previously, Quinn designed Matthew Vaughn’s Layer Cake, John Crowley’s Is Anybody There?, Daniel Barber’s Harry Brown, James Watkins’ The Woman in Black, Rufus Norris’ Broken, Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Diana, Thomas Vinterberg’s Far from the Madding Crowd and Louis Leterrier’s The Brothers Grimsby.
DANIEL REZENDE (Editor) is an Oscar-nominated editor who hails from Brazil and has a close working relationship with filmmaker José Padilha. The two have enjoyed numerous collaborations in the past, including the sci-fi actioner RoboCop, starring Joel Kinnaman and Gary Oldman, the critically acclaimed Brazilian film Elite Squad and its equally successful sequel, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within.
Rezende won the BAFTA Award for Best Editing for his work on Fernando Meirelles’ City of God and was also nominated for an Academy Award. He has frequently been recognized with awards in both his native Brazil and Argentina. Meirelles and Rezende continued their relationship on Blindness, starring Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, and 360, which opened the 2011 London Film Festival. In 2011 Rezende and director Terrence Malick collaborated on the celebrated Palme d’Or winner The Tree of Life.
25 BINA DAIGELER (Costumer Designer) is a four-time Goya Award nominee for Best Costume Design who is best known for her work on such films as Hitman: Agent 47 and Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother and Volver.
Having begun her career in the German cinema of the early ’80s, Daigeler was attracted to the Madrid scene and its creative explosion. This inspired her move to Spain, where she landed her first job as a costume designer on Juanma Bajo Ulloa’s Airbag. Throughout her illustrious career, she has received four Goya nominations, the highest honor for Spanish productions. In recent years, Daigeler has leveraged her experience to cast a wider net with international productions such as Jonathan Jakubowicz’s Hands of Stone, Oliver Stone’s Snowden, Wim Wenders’ Submergence, Niki Caro’s The Zookeeper’s Wife and José Padilha’s Netflix series “Narcos.”
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PARTICIPANT MEDIA presents a WORKING TITLE FILMS production
“7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE”
CAST Wilfred Böse Daniel Brühl Brigitte Kuhlmann Rosamund Pike Shimon Peres Eddie Marsan Yitzhak Rabin Lior Ashkenazi Jacques Lemoine Denis Menochet
Zeev Hirsch Ben Schnetzer
CREW Directed by José Padilha Produced by Tim Bevan Eric Fellner Kate Solomon Michelle Wright Ron Halpern Written by Gregory Burke Executive Producers Jeff Skoll Jonathan King Olivier Courson Jean-Claude Darmon Angela Morrison Jo Burn Liza Chasin
27 Director of Photography Lula Carvalho, ASC, ABC Production Designer Kave Quinn Editor Daniel Rezende Costume Designer Bina Daigeler Music by Rodrigo Amarante Casting by Fiona Weir
Rating PG-13
www.7daysinentebbe.com
artwork © 2017 FOCUS FEATURES LLC. All Rights Reserved. © 2017 STORYTELLER DISTRIBUTION CO., LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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